10 Wars That Were Started For Stupid Reasons
3. It Was Dark And Everyone Was Drunk (Austria Vs. Austria, 1788)
Whether the Battle of Karánsebes actually happened in the way history remembers is a matter of debate. It is so strangely believable, so illustrative of the hostile imbecility that lurks within all of us, that it's awfully easy to buy it wholesale as fact.
The story goes that in 1788, Austria and the Ottoman Turks were having a tiff that was in turn part of one of those big tedious wars that consumed Europe at the time. Austria had a massive army of up to 100,000 soldiers camping near the town of Karánsebes.
That night a bunch of Austrians found some locals willing to sell them schnapps and soon got dangerously drunk. An argument inevitably followed and some complete tool fired off a shot.
What followed, if the story is true, was a disheartening mix between hysterical farce and human tragedy. Bits of the army started shooting at each other and eventually suffered such casualties it had to with withdraw, in spite of the fact there probably weren't any Turks to be withdrawing away from.